Luton/Rüsselsheim – Vauxhall/Opel’s light commercial vehicle (LCV) offensive is gaining traction: the carmaker registered global LCV sales of almost 33,000 units in the first quarter of 2019 – an increase of 35 per cent compared to the same period last year. The registration market share in Europe (E30) was up by 0.6 percentage points from January to March and is now at 4.7 per cent. Vauxhall/Opel has set itself the target of increasing LCV sales by 25 per cent by 2020 in its PACE! company plan.

The all-new Combo Cargo was the main driver of the growth. The International Van of the Year 2019 was sold around 6,900 times in the first three months of the year – an impressive increase of 68 per cent compared to sales of its predecessor in the first quarter of 2018. Customer demand for both the Movano (up 18 per cent) as well as the Vivaro (up 33 per cent) was significantly stronger than last year.

The UK was the largest LCV market for Vauxhall/Opel with over 8,000 sold in the first quarter. Vauxhall LCV sales have increased by 28.5 per cent, with market share up 1.27 percentage points versus first quarter 2018.

“Our LCV business is growing on a broad front. All of our LCVs are more popular than last year and we have managed to increase our market share in almost every European market. This shows that our measures are effective,” said Xavier Duchemin, Managing Director Sales, Aftersales and Marketing.

Order intake – the foundation for future sales – has also shown considerable increases in recent months. “The pleasing volume of orders means that 2019 is promising to be a good year,” said Duchemin.

The new British-built Vivaro will give Vauxhall/Opel even more momentum. It will be launched later this year and an electric version will be available from 2020.